Graphic design in Germany : 1890-1945 / Jeremy Aynsley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aynsley, Jeremy.

Contributor:

Wolfsonian-Florida International University.

Series:

Weimar and now ; 28.

Weimar and now ; 28

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Commercial art--Germany--History--20th century.

Commercial art.

Graphic design (Typography)--Germany--History--20th century.

Graphic design (Typography).

History.

Germany.

Physical Description:

240 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 29 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2000]

Summary:

Here is the first full study of a period of great artistic activity, illuminating an extraordinarily rich and diverse trove of experiment, innovation, and accomplishment: graphic design in Germany during the years before World War II.

At the end of the 19th century, graphic art in Germany was static and traditional. It was the spectacular industrial and commercial boom following the Franco-Prussian War that breathed new life into the field of advertising -- whether in newspapers, journals, or on kiosks -- and stimulated interest in what is now called "corporate identity." The artists who forged a distinctive German style, which was aggressive, aesthetically adventurous, and well constructed to attract customers, included Henry van de Velde, Peter Behrens, Jan Tschichold, John Heartfield, and Herbert Bayer. Possibly the most influential propagator of these new activities was the Bauhaus, founded in Weimar in 1919 and remaining in operation until forced out of Germany by the advent of the Nazis. Here, such artists as Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, and Moholy-Nagy taught a new generation the most modern approach to aesthetic problems -- among them graphic design.

In Graphic Design in Germany: 1890-1945, Jeremy Aynsley taps a rich seam of artistic endeavor to provide a comprehensive account of this fascinating but hitherto neglected subject. Based on years of research, and superbly illustrated with examples from a wide gamut of sources, his survey will intrigue, stimulate, and even surprise anyone who has an interest in graphic design or is engaged in its creation.

Contents:

1 From Applied Art to Graphic Design 1890-1914 10

2 Behrens, Bernhard and Ehmcke: Three Models of Graphic Designer 58

3 Modernism and Graphic Art Education: the Bauhaus and the Reimann School 1919-1938 86

4 Forces of Persuasion: Magazines, Exhibitions and Associations 118

5 Style and Ideology: Nazification and Its Contradictions in Graphic Design 1933-1945 178.

Notes:

Exhibition presented at the Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Sept. 27, 2000-Apr. 29, 2000.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 218-232) and index.

ISBN:

0520227964

OCLC:

44117928